


Operation Attraction

by WolfAndHound_Archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Humor, Marauders' Era, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2004-06-20
Packaged: 2018-05-18 15:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5933506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfAndHound_Archivist/pseuds/WolfAndHound_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watch Sirius try to get Remus to fall in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Lassenia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Wolf and Hound](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Wolf_and_Hound), which was created to make stories posted to the Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin Yahoo! mailing list easier to find. However, even though I still love the fandom, I am no longer active in it and do not have the time to maintain it. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in December 2015. I posted an announcement with Open Doors, but we may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Wolf and Hound collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/wolfandhound/profile).

"Sirius? Sear, what's wrong?" James Potter asked, coming up and sitting down next to his best friend in the nearly-abandoned common room. Sirius had been sitting on the plush red-and-gold rug right in front of the fire, resting his head on his knees and looking utterly lost, but when James came and sat down, Sirius sighed, stretched a bit without standing up, and lay back, head underneath his hands.

"Nothing's wrong, James. 'M fine," Sirius replied thickly. "'M just a bit tired."

"Bullshit," James replied roughly, surprising himself as well as Sirius. "Something's been bothering you for weeks now, and you won't tell me what it is! I'm your best friend, Sear, you can at least tell me. Maybe then we can work it out and it won't bother you anymore."

Sirius chuckled a bit. "You should have been Padfoot, James, you're like a dog with a bone."

"No distractions, Sirius," James warned, though a smile flitted playfully around his lips. "Tell me what's bothering you."

Sirius sighed noisily. "Fine, fine, whatever," Sirius said flippantly, but James could tell it was hard to start. "James..."

"Yeah, Sear?"

"How did you know you were in love with Lily? I mean, you've always been playing all those pranks on her, and she doesn't seem to like you very much, but you're so persistent, and I was wondering why," Sirius said, glancing over at James, who lay back down on the rug next to his friend, thinking.

"I don't know," he answered finally. "It just seems like it was always there. I just always wanted her to notice me. I wanted her to pay attention. Positive attention, negative attention, whatever- it didn't matter as long as she was paying attention to me. When she was...I just felt, oh, I dunno, calmer, I guess. More...at peace with myself. Even when she was yelling at me." James chuckled. "It didn't matter if she was yelling at me, because it was her doing it."

"So you feel like you'd let her do anything she wanted, just because it was her? As if there was nothing she could do that would be so bad you could stop loving her?" Sirius's voice sounded funny, and when James looked over at him, he could see a troubled look on his face.

"Yeah...like that, I suppose," James mused. "Why? Are you in love, Sirius?"

"...I think so. But I don't know...what to do about it," Sirius mumbled. James rolled over and tugged a tendril of Sirius's hair, causing his fellow Marauder to glare at him.

"Just tell the other person, you ninny," James advised.

"That's all well and good for-wait a minute. James, did you just call me a ninny?" Sirius raised an eyebrow and made a face, and James laughed.

"Ninny!" James taunted, and had to jump up and run away, laughing, as he was chased by a mock-annoyed Sirius, who was laughing too. They chased each other around the common room, and it only got more interesting when Sirius became Padfoot and caught up to James, jumping in front of him and then on him, sitting on his chest and looking very pleased with himself.

"Erk...! Get off me, Padfoot! You're heavy!" James complained to the Animagus on his chest, who swiftly changed into a smirking Sirius.

"Not until you apologize for calling me a ninny, you prat," Sirius said. James tried to push Sirius off, but Sirius stayed stubbornly seated on his friend's chest, playfully sticking his tongue out. Finally James lay back, defeated.

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry I called you a ninny..." Sirius looked proud and vindicated "...you dorkus."

"Dorkus? **Dorkus**? Prongs, just what the hell is a dorkus?!" Sirius asked, reluctantly getting up off of James and crossing his arms over his chest.

"That would be you," James said, smirking and sitting up. Sirius glared at him, then sighed and sat down beside him. They were silent for a few minutes.

"I can't just tell the other person, James. They won't feel the same," Sirius said finally, going back to their previous topic. He sounded confidant, and when James looked over at him, his face proclaimed his dejection.

"How do you know that?" James asked, feeling a quick surge of anger at how sure Sirius was that the person he was in love with didn't love him back. Sirius is a great guy! "You know you're handsome, the girls know you're handsome, and so many of them have had crushes on you that it's not even funny. Why would this one be any different?"

Sirius looked over at James and sighed. "James, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course I can. You know that. What would you call Moony and Prongs and the rest?" James replied. He laughed, but Sirius did not.

Sirius looked away from James, his face still troubled. "I...it's not a girl, James," Sirius said, and James blinked. Not...a girl. Then... well, that explains a lot. Like why he never seems to care when girls flirt with him.

"Oh," James said. Sirius looked back towards James, obviously worried.

"You don't care, do you?" Sirius asked anxiously. "I mean, because I'm gay..."

"Of course not, dorkus," James interrupted, and Sirius looked a mix between annoyed at the name and relief at the thought of his friend not hating him. "But in that case, I can certainly see why you would be afraid that he doesn't love you too. Do you know if he at least likes you? As a friend, I mean?"

Sirius nodded, smiling a bit. "It's easy to talk to him, you know? And he's really smart, and funny, and thoughtful, and compassionate, and beautiful. He's amazing, but what gets me is that he doesn't see it. I mean, who cares if he's a bloody werewo..." Sirius trailed off, and his eyes widened as he inadvertently revealed who he was in love with. James grinned.

"Sirius likes Remus, Sirius likes Remus," James sang teasingly. Sirius lunged at James and covered his mouth with a hand, but James didn't drop his grin.

"Be quiet, will you?" Sirius growled. "I don't want anyone to hear!"

"The common room's empty, except for us," James pointed out as Sirius's hand left his mouth.

"Yes, but Remus and Peter are upstairs," Sirius replied, looking nervously towards the dormitory stairs.

James snorted. "They're asleep! It's two in the morning you know, and since I couldn't hear your customary snores, I came down to see why you weren't sleeping."

Sirius shrugged. "Couldn't take it anymore," he replied. "My self- control was about gone, and I didn't think Remus would have appreciated being woken up by a kiss, so I came down here to bemoan my sad and sorry fate."

James snorted again. "Sad and sorry fate, my arse! How do you know Remus wouldn't have wanted to be woken up by a kiss?"

Sirius threw a dirty look at James. "Because Remus is straight?" Sirius replied dryly. James smiled enigmatically.

"Don't be so sure about that," James remarked, and nearly started laughing again as Sirius's head whipped around to face James so quickly that James got a faceful of Sirius hair. James batted it away. "Watch where you put that hair," James warned, but he was still smiling.

"What do you mean, 'don't be so sure about that'?" Sirius asked slowly and deliberately, completely ignoring the statement about the hair. "James? Is there something you know that I don't?"

"Nope," James said cheerfully. "But it's always possible that Remus has some deep-seated feelings for you too. I know I've seen him watching you when he thinks no one else is looking, but Remus is such a private person that it's always possible for him to like someone without telling us."

"You-you really think so?" Sirius asked hesitantly, and James nearly laughed at the begging-puppy look on his face.

"Don't know, but there's always ways to find out. Just you wait, Sirius Black," James grinned, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. "I'm going to make Remus fall in love with you if it's the last thing I do!"

Sirius groaned and buried his head in his hands. Judging by the look in James's eyes, he knew he was going to regret this...

~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~

"A poem, James? A poem?!" Sirius stared at his best friend, who had just suggested writing Remus a poem to show him how he felt, like he had grown an extra head.

"People love it when someone writes them a romantic poem!" James defended himself.

"Girls love the romantic poems, Prongs! Moony's a guy," Sirius protested.

"I'm well aware of that," James rolled his eyes. "But that doesn't matter."

Sirius groaned. "James, he'll laugh at me!"

"Not if you don't tell him it was you who wrote the poem!" James was fairly bouncing in his excitement. "Just don't sign the poem, and let him wonder who wrote it. Then once he figures it out, he'll be happy and you two can get together."

"What's wrong with this picture...hmmm...let me think. Maybe that Remus might not like the fact that I'm writing him poems?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"So you'll do it?" James beamed, and Sirius sighed, defeated.

"Yes, I'll write him the bloody poem...stupid..." Sirius muttered as he got out a bit of parchment and a quill. He continued muttering, usually bad things about James mixed in with bad things about Snape (because Sirius could not go a day without cursing about Snape), interspersed with completely nonsensical rhymes.

"James, listen to this and tell me what you think," Sirius said after about half an hour. He sat up straighter and cleared his throat before speaking.

"If ever I had know before The beauty that is you, I would have told you long ago The love I have is true. Before I'd ever seen the light Reflected in your eyes of gold, My life was only empty dreams That now I can't have told. So now I cannot keep it in. I have to let you know. If you understand my heart, My love for you will grow.

"So what do you think?" Sirius asked anxiously when he finished reciting.

James blinked, and vaguely noticed that his mouth was hanging open. I'd never have thought Sirius to be a love poet... He closed it, and blinked again before saying, "That was...not bad. Rather good, in fact. I'm sure he'll like it."

"You don't think it's too soppy, or something?" Sirius was still worried.

James sighed and clapped a hand to Sirius's shoulder. "He'll love it," James said seriously. "Now let's just get up to the Owlery. You can send it with a school owl and then you can see his reaction for yourself tomorrow."

So they took off for the Owlery, James grinning happily, and Sirius with a feeling of impending doom.

~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~

The next morning at breakfast, Sirius waited nervously for the owls to swoop in with the mail. On one hand, he desperately wanted to see Remus's reaction to his poem, but on the other, he just wanted to go back to bed and hide himself under the covers so he could be spared seeing Remus's reaction to the poem. What if he hates it? What if he laughs? Sirius thought frantically, glancing up again for the flutter of owl wings. There! Oh bloody hell, and there's my poem...

The owl came winging to a stop right above Remus and dropped a letter on his plate, which he had just recently emptied.

"Who's that from, Remus?" Peter asked as Remus picked up the envelope and turned it around, looking at it quizzically.

"No idea, Peter. I don't recognize the owl..." Remus said as he opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside. His eyes widened as he viewed what was on the paper.

"What is it, Moony?" Sirius asked casually, desperately hoping his face didn't reflect the butterflies in his stomach.

"...It's a poem..." Remus said disbelievingly. "Someone wrote me a love poem..."

"Oh really?" James said casually, though his eyes were twinkling as he reached across the table for more bangers. "What's it say?"

His voice shaking a bit, Remus read the poem aloud to the other three, two of which had heard it before. When he was done, all four of them sat in silence for a bit. Sirius thought he might explode with nerves if he didn't say something.

"Wow, Moony," he said. "Looks like someone's got it bad for you." He smiled at Remus, ignoring the knowing look James sent his way.

"Yeah..." Remus replied in wonder, then frowned as he turned the letter over and over. "...there's no signature."

"Maybe the poet wants you to figure out who it is yourself," James suggested, winking at Sirius, who abruptly decided that if James continued acting like a knowing prat because of this, Prongs would soon be minus a few prongs.

"The handwriting looks vaguely familiar," Remus commented as he read through the poem again. Sirius had changed his handwriting slightly; just enough that Remus didn't guess who it was right away and immediately think it was a prank. I need time to show Remus that I'm serious...oh bloody hell, sometimes I hate my name...Sirius's thoughts were cut off as Remus spoke again. "I wonder why someone sent this to me...could it be a mistake, do you think?"

Sirius felt a hot surge of anger-not at Remus, of course, it was impossible to be mad at Remus when he just looked at you with those expressive golden eyes-but at Remus's persistence in thinking he wasn't worth much. "Of course it's for you!" Sirius exclaimed, drawing surprised looks from the other three Marauders at his vehemence. "It describes your eyes and all, and who else do you know whose eyes get all golden like yours do?"

"Er...okay, Sirius," Remus said uncertainly, blinking those beautiful golden eyes at him. "I suppose you're right..."

"Of course he is," James agreed, then grinned wickedly. "Remus has a secret admirer! Remus has a secret admirer!"

Remus groaned, and Sirius put his head in his hands. "James, you're nearly seventeen, for crying out loud. Stop acting like you're seven," Sirius growled, feeling a headache coming on. However, all traces of a headache vanished when Remus smiled gratefully at him. Sirius flushed a bit and smiled back, which James-observant prat that he is-noticed. He stopped singing, but his wicked grin didn't go away. He simply raised an eyebrow at Sirius, then shook his head slightly in the manner of an indulgent father, which only annoyed Sirius even more. That's it, next full moon, Prongs will have to worry about Padfoot more than Moony!

"Still," Remus mused, eyes going over the poem once more, "I wonder who it was. It's not like I know many people well enough for them to...like me." Remus was blushing a bit, but Sirius thought it was very adorable, so he was a bit distracted and almost missed Peter's next observation.

"There's that sixth-year Hufflepuff girl, the one who keeps making eyes at you in Herbology," Peter pointed out, and Sirius felt like banging his head against the table and then yelling that it was he who sent the poem. But he just settled for looking vaguely disgruntled, then resting his head on the table as if he were tired.

Remus frowned. "I never noticed any Hufflepuff making eyes at me in Herbology," he objected.

James rolled his eyes. "You're too busy being enamored by the all the pretty plants to notice much of anything, even the pretty girls," he teased, and Remus laughed a bit.

"Well, I do like plants," Remus agreed calmly, and Sirius nearly shot up in excitement as he thought of another idea to get Moony to like him. As it was, James, Remus, and Peter were startled when his head shot up off the table, and he gave them an apologetic grin.

"Speaking of Herbology, don't we have that in about ten minutes?" Sirius asked, and the other three blinked as they realized that they did, in fact, have Herbology in ten minutes, and if they didn't leave right now they were going to be late. So they set off for the greenhouses, and Sirius was happy to notice Remus carefully folding his poem and putting it in a pocket, which he would continuously put his hand in throughout their classes.


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius didn't know if he wanted to start tearing his hair out or throttle James more. It was James who got him into this whole mess by insisting on the poem, but Remus was being so bloody clueless! During Herbology, the Marauders had been separated by Professor Bloom, who decided they needed to actually get some work done rather than plot pranks or make fun of each other. Sirius was paired with Adam Zeller, a likable enough Hufflepuff, if a bit slow, but Sirius nearly groaned aloud when he saw who Remus was partnered with.

The Hufflepuff girl who had a crush on him. Kathleen Abbot. _Figures._ And they got the station right next to his, too.

So while Sirius was trying to repot the brightly colored flowers whose stems were slithering around his hands and up his arms, he had to listen to Kathleen chatting at Remus. _Flirt._ Sirius consoled himself with the fact that at least Remus was paying more attention to his flowering snake-vines than to Kathleen, but what if Kathleen's chatter convinced Remus that it meant she had sent the poem? Sirius growled, and Adam looked up, startled. The snake-vine must have thought the growl was meant for it- _Can plants think?_ -because it immediately started removing its feelers from his arm. Remus looked up from his own plant, which was behaving itself, and grinned at Sirius. Sirius's heart started pounding in the wake of that grin.

"Having a bit of trouble?" Remus murmured softly enough that Professor Bloom didn't hear and take off points for talking to friends instead of working with partners.

"Of course not," Sirius replied automatically, rolling his eyes and grinning back at Remus, who chuckled.

Unfortunately for Sirius, Kathleen saw that her partner's attention was not on either herself or their assignment, and immediately began trying to rectify the situation. She started with getting Remus's attention back on the snake-vine ("Oh, **Remus** , it's starting to crawl up my hands! **How** did you get it to behave for **you**?"), and then progressed to blatant flirting (" **Wow** , Remus. You have **such** a way with plants. Do you like to garden? **I** do."). Remus, polite as always, merely answered her questions, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. Probably on all the pretty plants. _Ah, Moony. Always fascinated with the things,_ Sirius thought fondly.

After a few more attempts to get Remus to open up to her, Kathleen finally stopped chattering and started repotting, proving herself to actually be fairly competent when she wasn't being an obvious flirt. Sirius mentally breathed a sigh of relief, and went back to working on his snake-vine, which was again crawling up his arms.

~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~

Days passed, as did weeks, and Remus still had no clue as to Sirius's feelings for him, so Sirius was getting desperate. He'd tried helping Remus with homework from his worst class (Potions), hexing Snape even harder than usual when the Slytherin made his typical snide comments about the health of Remus's mother (not that Sirius minded hexing Snape), staying with him in the hospital wing after the full moon instead of going back to bed like James and Peter (the full moon had been a Saturday night), and talking to him about all sorts of random things whenever he could. Hell, he'd even tried actually **studying** with Remus! And still Remus was clueless.

Remembering Remus's reaction to the first poem, eventually Sirius tried writing another one. He used up parchment after parchment, filling them all with scribbles of words of love and devotion, only to be subsequently crumpled and burned. Finally he concluded that he just wasn't meant to write any more love poems. Sirius was getting frustrated.

Several days later, when Remus and Peter were downstairs in the common room doing homework, Sirius was in the dorm, pacing. James was sitting on his bed, watching his friend pace with growing annoyance.

"For Merlin's sake, Sear, if you really want him to know, just tell him," James snapped as Sirius walked by his bed for the fiftieth time that evening. Sirius simply shook his head and continued pacing.

"I can't, James. Not yet. What if he doesn't believe me?" Sirius said anxiously, letting out a huge sigh before pausing momentarily in his pacing. Then he just turned around and went the other way, and James sighed.

"Well then, why don't you write him another poem, to show him you're, ah, serious?" James grinned, and Sirius glared at him.

"Let's just stop with the bloody name thing," Sirius advised, eyes narrowed at the grinning James. "It got old when we were seven. And I'm not going to send him another bloody poem. The first one was hard enough."

"The first one wasn't that bad," James pointed out. "Remus seemed to like it well enough."

Sirius frowned. "I guess he did," he conceded. "But he might not like the next one, and besides, I don't like writing poems. I've already tried writing more, and they were...not very good. Besides, I have another idea."

"What is this other idea, O Sirius?" James asked, curious.

Sirius stopped pacing and grinned. "You'll just have to wait and see along with Moony."

James rolled his eyes, smiling as he got up and clapped a hand to Sirius's shoulder. "Let's get down to the common room and do our homework before Moony comes barging up here to nag us and finds us plotting," he advised, walking towards the dormitory door.

"Not that he would think it out of the ordinary, coming up here and finding us plotting," Sirius remarked as he followed James. "You must admit, my dear Prongs, we do plot rather often."

"So we do," James replied congenially as he walked down the stairs, Sirius right behind him. "But our plotting usually consists of ways to embarrass Snivellus or the other Slytherins, not ways to get one of your best friends to fall in love with you."

"We plot ways to get Evans to fall in love with you," Sirius pointed out as they reached the table Remus and Peter were doing homework at. James was about to reply, but Remus looked up.

"What's this I hear about plotting?" Remus asked, setting down his quill. Peter also looked up.

"We were just discussing the various things we plot," Sirius replied before James could do more than open his mouth.

"Meaning the ways in which we could embarrass the Slytherins?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling slightly.

"And ways to get Lily Evans to fall in love with Prongs," Sirius said, causing James to throw him a dirty look. "All of which have failed dismally," he added.

Remus laughed, and James glared at both of them. "Some friends you are, always making fun of me," James complained.

"Aw, but what are friends for, Prongsie old buddy?" Sirius replied, reaching out and tousling James's hair so that it was even more messy than usual. He just grinned and laughed when James's glare intensified as the bespectacled boy tried vainly to smooth his hair back down, a sharp contrast from fifth year, when he was forever trying to make it messier. _He probably noticed that it didn't impress the lovely Miss Evans,_ Sirius thought, and snickered.

"I don't know why I put up with you," James began, but Remus interrupted him.

"Because no one else will put up with you," Remus pointed out dryly, and Sirius snickered again. James glared at them again, but then threw up his hands and chuckled.

"But we all have to put up with Sirius," James said, plopping down in a nearby armchair, and it was Sirius's turn to glare.

"It's not that bad," Remus interceded, and Sirius's eyes widened a bit. James blinked.

"Well...if you like drooling puppies, I suppose," James replied.

"I am not a drooling puppy!" Sirius exclaimed, but it was a token protest. _Maybe Remus..._

"I happen to like puppies," Remus said mildly, causing Sirius's heart to flutter madly in his chest, then added, "But I could do without the drool."

~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~ **~** ~

The next day, during the free period Sirius had when Remus was in Ancient Runes with James and Peter was doing homework in the common room, Sirius went up to the dormitory, running his hand continuously over something in his pocket. Once in the relative safety of the dorm room, Sirius carefully brought out a packet of seeds he had begged off Professor Bloom, who was delighted to see someone "other than young Mr. Lupin" showing extracurricular interest in her subject.

"Lupines. Perfect," Sirius whispered. Despite lupines being a Muggle plant, Professor Bloom still had seeds, and was gracious enough not to ask what he wanted them for, though she did wink at him. He got out his wand and opened the packet, carefully pouring the seeds into his palm. He closed his eyes and whispered an incantation, and when he opened his eyes again, he was gratified to see the seeds had become a bouquet of fully-grown purple lupines. He whispered a spell to keep them fresh for a long time, conjured a golden ribbon that matched Remus's eyes, and left the bouquet carefully propped on the pillows of Remus's bed. He left the curtains open so Remus would be sure to see the flowers next time he went in, and left the dorm, making his way over to Peter and joining him in doing homework.

That night, when the four Marauders had finished their homework and were plotting pranks while playing chess in a corner of the emptying common room, Remus announced, "I'm hungry. Does anyone want to come to the kitchen with me?" He and Sirius had just finished their chess game, with Remus the winner.

Peter and James, who were currently engaged in a chess game in which James was losing spectacularly, shook their heads no, but Sirius, eager as always to spend some time alone with Remus despite having just lost a chess game to him, enthusiastically agreed. "Honestly Padfoot, with how much you eat, I'm surprised you're so thin," Remus teased, and Sirius mock-glared at him. Remus laughed. "I'll go get the Map and the Cloak. They're in your trunk, right James?" James nodded, still intent on the game, and Remus went upstairs. Sirius stayed seated, butterflies and heart flutterings reappearing as he waited for Remus to discover the flowers.

Several minutes later, Remus came back down, silvery Invisibility Cloak folded over his arm, folded blank sheet of parchment in one hand, and a bouquet of purple lupines in the other. His face showed astonishment mixed with pleasure as he walked over to the Marauders' corner, stopping and waiting for James and Peter to look up from their chess game. Sirius, who had been watching Remus since he came down the stairs, nudged James and pointed to Remus with his chin.

"What is it, Padfoot? Can't you see I'm bloody busy...oh," James said as he looked up and noticed the flowers in his other friend's hand.

"I found them on my bed," Remus said quietly, but with an undertone of happiness that made Sirius want to shout with joy at the fact that it was he who made the young werewolf happy, and he who would hopefully continue to make him happy forever. _If he lets me, that is. And if he ever figures out that it's me who's been sending him this stuff!_

James glanced over at Sirius, who nodded almost imperceptibly, smiling shyly. Remus, absorbed in his flowers, didn't even notice. "Wow," James said, grinning. "Those are lupines, aren't they?"

Remus nodded, flushing. "I wonder how whoever it was knew that it was my favorite flower..."

"Well, we at least know it was a Gryffindor now," Peter piped in, and the other three looked at him. "You said you found them on your bed, and only a Gryffindor would be able to get into the common room, much less into the dormitories."

"Heh. You're right, Pete," James said, clapping Peter on the back, who beamed when James praised him. "Guess that means the Hufflepuff's out then."

Sirius, knowing the Kathleen Abbot the Hufflepuff was never in, only rolled his eyes, then stood up. "You should leave those here," he told Remus. "We wouldn't want to crush them or something while we're under the Invisibility Cloak."

Remus nodded, smiling, and carefully placed the flowers down on a nearby table. "Let's go then," Remus said, and Sirius nodded. He waved jauntily to James, who acknowledged him with a wave of his hand, mind obviously back on his chess game.

The two boys left through the portrait hole, then, making sure they were far enough away from the Fat Lady so she didn't see, swirled the Invisibility Cloak over their shoulders and disappeared from sight. Remus unfolded the parchment, tapped it with his wand, and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." From the point where his wand touched the parchment, spidery lines branched out and formed words, then became the Map that was one of the keys to the Marauders' success as pranksters.

"Filch in the trophy room with Peeves and his cat on the fifth floor. Perfect," Remus whispered, and with a tap of his wand and the words "Mischief managed", the Map went blank, and Sirius and Remus set off for the kitchens.

They made it through to the portrait of the fruit encountering none except the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, who just floated past, not noticing a thing. Sirius reached out and tickled the pear, which let out a high-pitched giggle and turned into a door handle. They took off the Invisibility Cloak, opened the door, and were greeted by a chorus of, "What can we get for sirs tonight?" Sirius and Remus grinned at each other and entered the kitchen, where they spent the next hour or so pigging out on chocolate cake and several other things made out of chocolate, which Sirius was always careful to ask for, knowing his Remus's strong love for the stuff. He was rewarded with several happy smiles from the young werewolf.

"This has been a good day," Remus said as he was finishing up with a chocolate bar.

"Yes," Sirius agreed, watching Remus lick melted chocolate off his fingers. "A very good day, indeed."


	3. Chapter 3

"Kill me now, James," Sirius groaned as he flopped into a chair in the common room. "Just kill me now."

James blinked. "Why?"

Sirius glared at him. "Why? _Why?_ Have you bloody _seen_ all the girls following me around all day?"

James snickered. "Aww, Sear, they just want to wish you a happy birthday! Don't tell me you're being unappreciative?" James teased, and had to dodge a punch from Sirius.

"Mobs of girls following me around is _not_ my idea of a good birthday, James," Sirius growled, reminiscent of an annoyed Padfoot. _If Remus would just get his head out of the clouds... now_ that _would be my idea of a good birthday...I don't know how he could have misinterpreted all the stuff I've been doing for him, but it's been bloody weeks since the flowers!_

"Aww, poor idle-widdle Siri-poo got overwhelmed by all the girls," James cooed, "and now he's running to big brother James for help!"

Sirius glared at him again. "James..." he warned, but James grinned unrepentantly.

"Yes, Siri-poo?"

"Don't call me that again unless you want Padfoot to try stag meat for dinner next moon!" Sirius threatened, but James kept grinning. "And besides, I'm older than you, so you can't be `big brother James'."

"But you are running to me for help," James pointed out, and Sirius groaned.

"No, I'm escaping from the girls!" he corrected.

James rolled his eyes. "They like you, Sirius," James explained with the air of a long-suffering friend. "They think you're handsome and dashing and all that junk, and they want you to like them too. They think that if they pay attention to you on your birthday, you'll be grateful and want to go out with some of them."

Sirius buried his head in his hands. "I don't want to go out with any of them," Sirius complained. "I don't _like_ girls that way!"

"Well, I know that, but they don't," James said reasonably. "You want to get them off your tail, just tell them."

Sirius looked horrified. "I can't do that!" he exclaimed. "If the girls know, Regulus will find out, and whatever Regulus knows, Mother knows. If Mother knows, she'll kill me!"

James looked sympathetic for the first time since Sirius entered the common room. "Merlin, Sirius, your mum..." James shook his head. "Sometimes I just can't figure out how someone like you can belong to a family like that."

"I know!" Sirius moaned. "Mother wants me to be friends with _Snape!_ If she knew what Remus was, and how I felt about him... I would be dead, or worse."

"That would solve your girl problem quite nicely, though," James pointed out.

"Not funny, James," Sirius grumbled. "Mother's worse than the girls! Maybe you can knock me out until my birthday's over?" Sirius asked, hopeful.

"Well...I could do that..." James mused, "but then you wouldn't be opening your last present..."

"Last present? I thought I already opened them all," Sirius said, puzzled. James grinned as he pointed to a colorfully wrapped box on a table behind Sirius, and Sirius immediately jumped up and seized the box. James snickered at his enthusiasm.

"There's no name..." Sirius commented, looking all over the box for the name of the person who sent the gift.

"Maybe it's inside, with the gift," James suggested.

"Maybe..." Sirius said, eyeing the box dubiously, but then deciding that it didn't matter. He tore the paper apart and opened the small box underneath, lifting out a roll of parchment. He unrolled it, and his eyes grew wide.

"James..." he said, looking up at his best friend, his eyes shining. "...it's a poem..."

James smiled. "What's it say?" he urged.

Sirius cleared his throat, and read:

_"Dog and wolf will run together Under the full moon. But the human boys, however, Will be with each other soon. The dog, ever loyal, Showed the wolf how he felt. And when the wolf, after some toil, Understood, his heart did melt. For the wolf was in love, But only thought the other's Heart consisted of The feelings of a brother. But now the wolf has understood That the dog loves him too. So then, in the Forbidden Wood, He'll tell the dog 'I love you.'"_

Sirius's voice broke on the last few lines of the poem, and when he reached the words "I love you", a bouquet of flowers appeared on Sirius's lap.

"Morning glories..." Sirius breathed, picking up the bouquet of his favorite flowers and holding it gently, looking at it and the poem with bright eyes.

"Held together with a blue ribbon..." James murmured, and Sirius looked to see that it was, indeed, held together with a ribbon the exact blue shade of his eyes.

"James..." Sirius looked up at his best friend and hesitated. James chuckled and pulled Sirius up.

"Go, silly prat," James said fondly and giving his friend a gentle push. "He's waiting for you."

Sirius didn't need any more encouragement; he carefully placed the morning glories in the chair he had been sitting in, tucked the poem tenderly into his pocket, and practically ran out of the common room, deftly dodging the third-years who were just entering the portrait hole.

Sirius fairly flew down the stairs and corridors of Hogwarts, one thought on his mind: Remus. At one point he thought he saw Filch, who yelled at him for running in the hallways, but he paid absolutely no attention to the old caretaker. He figured Filch wouldn't have seen anything but a blur of black anyway.

Sirius left the castle and ran towards the Forbidden Forest, not even caring if Hagrid saw him. There was a clearing early in the Forest, which the Marauders had affectionately dubbed theirs, where one would go if he wanted to think or be alone, without the chance of anyone finding him but another Marauder. Sirius knew, with a certainty that would have surprised him with its conviction had he been thinking about it, that Remus would be waiting for him in this spot.

Sirius crashed through the Forest, barely even watching where he was going, heading unerringly towards that clearing. When he was approaching the clearing, he stopped, walking more quietly to the edge. He hesitantly stepped into the clearing and was greeted by the sight of Remus, standing in the middle of a patch of sunlight, face upturned towards the sky that could be seen through the boughs of the trees, his eyes closed, his hair catching and reflecting the golden rays of the slowly setting sun.

A small gasp escaped Sirius as he gazed at the picture of perfection that was Remus, glowing golden in the light of the sun. Remus's eyes flew open at the small sound, and he turned, smiling, to face Sirius.

"Sirius," Remus greeted, but made no other move. Sirius stepped further into the clearing until he was within a foot of Remus and stopped.

"Remus," Sirius returned the greeting softly, smiling shyly. Slowly Remus raised his hand until he was cupping Sirius's cheek. Sirius closed his eyes and leaned into the warm hand, sighing slightly with contentment.

"I'm sorry I took so long," Remus said. Sirius opened his eyes and shook his head.

"It's my fault, for not being so clear that you knew it was me," Sirius replied.

"No," Remus shook his head. "I figured out, a couple weeks ago, after the flowers, that it was you. I just couldn't believe it. It was kind of hard to accept, that the boy-the _boy_ -that you've been in love with for years is in love with you too. And I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Sirius asked softly.

"That you would get tired of me soon," Remus answered, stepping closer to Sirius and taking his hand. "But then I decided...it didn't matter. Either you would get tired of me or you wouldn't, but until then, I wasn't about to let that stop me from living my life. There's already so many people who would rather I just gave up on living, and I'm not about to join their number."

"Good for you, Moony," Sirius smiled, giving Remus's hand a squeeze. "Don't let the stupid people mess up your life."

"I won't," Remus promised. "I'm going to go out and do stupid teenager things, and I'm going to have fun. I'm going to live my life how _I_ want to live it, and I'm not going to let prejudice stop me."

"And I'll be alongside you all the way," Sirius told him. "I can't get tired of you any more than I can get tired of breathing. You're stuck with me, Moony. For better or for worse."

"For richer or for poorer," Remus said, stroking Sirius's cheek gently.

"As long as we both shall live," they both said solemnly. Remus's hand left Sirius's cheek and wrapped around his waist, pulling Sirius closer to him. Sirius gently pulled his hand free of Remus's and wrapped it around his shoulder. They leaned closer to each other, warm breath fanning each other's faces, until their lips touched. After a while, they pulled back slightly, smiling at each other. Then they leaned forward and kissed again.

Then they separated, and Remus took Sirius's hand again, entwining the other boy's fingers with his own.

"James is going to be insufferable, you know," Sirius said conversationally, and Remus chuckled.

"I know," Remus agreed. "And Peter's going to be shocked."

"Do you want to go in and tell them right now?" Sirius asked.

"James is going to know anyway," Remus pointed out. "He always knows when something's up with you."

"Then he can wait awhile for the official word, don't you think, Mr. Moony?" Sirius said, grinning at Remus.

"Oh, I do believe so, Mr. Padfoot," Remus agreed, grinning back.

"Then let's stay here awhile, shall we, Mr. Moony?"

"Oh yes, let's, Mr. Padfoot. And Happy Birthday. I trust you liked your present?"

"Oh, very much, Mr. Moony. Thank you."

So they stayed, and James had to wait several hours until they got back before he could gloat about how it was he that brought them together. Of course, when they did finally come in, James was asleep in his bed, as was Peter, so Remus and Sirius just grinned at each other and hopped into Sirius's bed, wrapping their arms around each other and falling asleep, happy grins still on their faces.


End file.
